Interesting email from Rome Ga and Sri Lanka

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Interesting email from Rome Ga and Sri Lanka

Postby bobfrgsn » Sat Jan 15, 2005 1:45 pm

I received this email this morning from my friend in Rome, Ga and I am passing it along .. It is addressed to World Friends and I think is okay to post. There are some links embedded in the email. This church is 190 years old.


In a message dated 1/15/05 1:03:11 PM Eastern Standard Time, WCHRUCHTI writes:

<< Dear World-Wide Friends,

The recent tsunami disaster in southeast Asia has alerted the world to the
uncertainty of life and nature. It has stirred our sense of compassion for the
suffering of the world.

Last Sunday First Baptist Church, Rome, GA, began a project to provide 10
water purification systems for use in Indonesia. As of Thursday, all money for
the project has come in and personnel are ready to use them. What an amazing
outpouring of generosity!

Many people are looking for a worthy project. This email is about one in Sri
Lanka. Kingsley and Ranjani deAlwis were active in Rome Baptist Church, Rome,
Italy, during his many years of work with the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) based in Roma. Retired, they are now back in Sri Lanka. I hope you
will read his request, information on the website of the Cinnamon Gardens
Baptist Church, and consider if you, your church, or friends of yours could help
this church in Colombo help other churches and Christians in Sri Lanka.

Buddhist lawmakers are trying to put through laws that will make it illegal
for a Christian to help a Moslem or Buddhist, and possibly for a Christian to
receive help from another Christian. In the meantime, the church is doing all
it can to help the thousands of people who have been affected by the tidal
wave.

Here's the message from Kingsley de Alwis, sent from Colombo, Sri Lanka:

In a message dated 1/15/05 1:40:20 AM Eastern Standard Time,
mailto:kdealwis@sltnet.lk writes:

<< Date: 1/15/05 1:40:20 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: mailto:kdealwis@sltnet.lk (Kingsley de Alwis)


Dear Helen,

It was a real pleasure to hear from you after such a long time. We too were
in Rome, Italy, towards the end of 2003 and were able to visit RBC. It was
indeed like coming home. We are now back in Sri Lanka and trying to help in
the Tsunami Relief effort. Unfortunately, a strident anti-Christian
campaign has been carried out by extremist Buddhists in this country and
they are about to get a bill passed in Parliament outlawing what they call
"unethical conversions" of Buddhists and Hindus to Christianity. Not only
converting a Buddhist but even offering "inducements" for people to
convert would be a criminal offense, drawing up to 7 years in jail.
Assistance to tsunami victims could easily be interpreted as inducements.
We are hoping that good sense will prevail and this bill will not be
passed, but the atmosphere it has created makes it difficult to extend help
to non-Christians in distress during this time. Nevertheless, our church,
the Cinnamon Gardens Baptist Church, has been distributing emergency
supplies to tsunami-affected people without regard to religion, race or
other consideration except need. When it comes to longer term aid, however,
we have to be more careful and perhaps target only Christians for the
present.

You might want to visit the website of our church at
http://www.cgbcsl.org to follow our efforts at providing assistance to
churches and families in distress as a result of the tsunami disaster.
Details of how donations can be made to our "Cinnamon Gardens Baptist
Church Disaster Relief Fund" are given there. The website is maintained by
me and gives you some idea of our church and its activities.

We have just concluded a family reunion here in Colombo. We were visited by
our elder daughter, Deepani, who lives in Toronto and our younger daughter,
Dilanthi, her husband John Mummert and our first grandchild, Ian Mummert,
who live in the San Francisco area. We had a wonderful time, except that it
was dampened by the tsunami disaster and the suffering of the people all
around us. We ourselves had a narrow escape by not going to a beach hotel,
the Riverina Hotel, on that fatal day. This hotel was severely damaged by
the tsunami waves. By God's grace we are keeping in reasonably good health
and are able to continue serving Him. Trust this finds you in good health
and high spirits. God Bless.

Sincerely,

Kingsley and Ranjani
bobfrgsn
 
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Location: Mandeville, Louisiana on the northshore of beautiful Lake Ponchatrain

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